This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

Series: Monsters of Verity #1
464 p.
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Published: 7/5/16
Source: From Edelweiss and publisher for review

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books. 

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

My thoughts:

This has an interesting world where humans create the monsters by their heinous acts and then are preyed on by their creations. While we know this, we do not really see the connection to their actions until we were told. I would have liked to have felt that aspect of this world more, but it still was interesting.

August Flynn is also a monster, but of a special sort. He seems to have more free will than the others and can affect his behavior by his choices more than the rest. He befriends Kate Harker who is the daughter of his rival and who is also a heartless human. Like every good YA romance, there is a spark but neither knows what it will do to the other. They both start to care for others outside of themselves and both transform. There is an HEA of sorts at the end, but not the one you usually expect. Also there are a few twists that I did not expect as we follow our two main characters. It is an interesting mystery and the door is wide open for the next book but this one does NOT end with a cliffie. YaY!

I give this book 4 stars. It was an unexpected surprise and these monsters come out of the nightmares of our own making. I highly recommend it to those that enjoy YA fantasy with a dark edge to it.